


These Shadows Will Always Haunt Us

by albionial (ironicbird)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Pendragon Returns, Attempt at Humor, Canon Compliant, Gen, Humor, Immortal Merlin, Magic, Modern Era, Post-Canon, Post-Episode: s05e13 The Diamond of the Day, but rating shouldnt, just tried to keep it closer to canon, not merthur slash sorry, or at least, tags and characters will change as fic progresses, their bro relationship is still there tho, this fic is just my take on what happens when arthur returns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 17:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16917546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironicbird/pseuds/albionial
Summary: 1500 years.Give or take a couple of decades, it is quite easy to lose track after that long, isn't it?1500 years of waiting. 1500 years of preparing.But no amount of preparation could make Merlin ready for an angry and confused Arthur roaming around the town and shoving his sword in the faces of innocent townspeople.He's got a lot of work to do.(developing story post-canon, really my take on what happens upon Arthur's return. Characters and tags will be added as the story progresses)





	These Shadows Will Always Haunt Us

**Author's Note:**

> Writing a Merlin fic??? in 2018??? what???
> 
> I watched this show with my family years ago when it was airing and I was like 11 but I never really got into the fandom at that time. I just finished a rewatch about a month ago and I've been stuck here since. Had to write my ideas on what Arthur's return would look like down or I would go crazy. Hope to write some more Merlin fic soon too. I have some ideas for a "if Arthur didn't die" fic.
> 
> Right now I've only got the prologue done for this one and it's not much but the first chapter should be done and come out tomorrow which will have more substance. But I wanted to go ahead and put this out there to see if it was interesting enough to draw some people in. I hope y'all enjoy, I don't write fanfics often so when I do I really want it to be good.
> 
> Also I'm American, not British so if I mess up some British culture or something like that I'm sorry, it's not intentional.

“Pass me another one.”

The bartender stopped his rag mid-swipe on the counter for a moment regarded the wizened old man seated at the end of the bar carefully, “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”

The old man gave him a wild, toothy smile, “Oh don’t you go and worry about me now. I’ve had enough practice in my lifetime to handle my liquor.”

The bartender hesitated for a moment more, before pulling out a clean glass to make another drink for the man. The old man had probably had too much by this point, but the raw confidence in the old man’s voice convinced the bartender to pour him just one more.

“Is this a special occasion or something?” the bartender asked as he slid the finished drink down the counter. The old man reached a hand out to catch it and promptly downed the entire drink in one massive gulp. He slammed the empty glass on the counter, eliciting a small cry of protest from the bartender that went unnoticed by the old man.

“An anniversary I’d rather forget,” the old man’s eyes suddenly seemed to be a mile away.

“Well, I’ll be closing up shop soon so you want any more you’d better order now,” the bartender said. The old man merely grunted, his hand still clutching the glass tightly, almost as if he was considering crushing it. He began muttering to himself, too softly for the bartender to hear from the other side of the bar. The bartender went back to his cleaning, ignoring the man’s mumblings. He hoped that the old man would leave soon. His favorite television show was on tonight and he didn’t want to miss it just because he was having to drag a senile old man out of his pub. Worse comes to worse, he could use the tiny little television that hung above the bar, but that thing was like fifty years old and if the bartender had a pound for every pixel on the screen, he would have a total of one pound.

Currently, the tiny screen was displaying the local weather anchor talking about all the rain they would be getting in the next few days. That news made the bartender groan internally. They had been having enough rain recently. The sky had been overcast for weeks now. Not that there was much else to report on anyways. Their tiny little town rarely had anything groundbreaking worth reporting on anyways.

A loud crash at the other side of the bar startled the bartender out of his cleaning. He turned to see that the old man was so inebriated that he had fallen off of his stool.

“Alright, that’s enough. You’re drunk. It’s time for you to go home,” the bartender told the old man gruffly.

“No no no wait just a moment just a moment,” the old man protested as he picked himself off of the ground. His gaze was firmly fixed on something just over the bartender’s head.

“Out. Now,” the bartender gestured for the man to leave. The old man stayed firmly rooted in his position, still gaping at something. The bartender was reaching towards the old man to start leading him towards the door, when the bartender felt a strong force shove him backwards. One moment he had been stretching an arm towards the old man, and the next he was fifteen feet away, almost crashing into a table. Shock and confusion flashed across the bartender’s face. That old man must be incredibly strong to fling him that far; however, the bartender didn’t think that he ever saw the old man move.

“Oi!” the bartender cried out while regaining his composure, “I mean it! Out!” When the old man still made no signs of moving, the bartender decided that he had enough. He reached for the phone on the wall and dialed for the police. They usually were patrolling around the area at this time of night anyways, picking up drunkards who were too inebriated to make it home and giving them a cell to sober up in overnight. He felt bad that he was having to do this to an elderly man, but violence was not tolerated at his pub.

Sure enough, the police were at the door mere moments after the bartender had placed his call. The old man protested loudly as the police escorted him out, but he did not fight them. The bartender crossed over to where the man had been and righted the fallen stool.

“He’ll be fine,” the bartender thought to himself, “He’ll be fine after he sobers up a bit.” The bartender was now regretting his decision to give the old man that last drink. But the old man had been a regular at his pub in the past, and he had never acted that way before. The bartender had no idea what came over the old man. At least he was gone now, the bartender could finish closing up. There was still much to do before he could go home and catch his television show.

The bartender began working as quickly and efficiently as he could. He was so engrossed in his work, that he never noticed that the tiny little screen above the bar no longer showed the weather anchor prattling on about more rain. Across the small screen scrolled the words, “BREAKING NEWS.”

 

* * *

 

**CHANNEL 7 11 PM NEWS SCRIPT 27042018**

Title Scroll: BREAKING NEWS

_*lights up on desk*_

KEIRA: Good evening and welcome to Channel 7 local news. I’m your host, Keira Kelly.

KEIRA: Our top story tonight, tourists and locals alike were shocked to find an unidentified man roaming around the city square this afternoon. The man appeared to be dressed in full medieval armor and was seen pointing a sword at multiple people. The man was quickly taken into police custody to avoid causing a greater public disturbance. Lucy Williams is on the scene with an eyewitness. Lucy?

_*switch feed to FIELDFEED2*_

LUCY: Thank you Keira. The man is no longer roaming around the square and has been in police custody for a few hours now but earlier we talked to Tate Chapman who was approached by this unknown man.

_*play TESTIMONY1 - TATE CHAPMAN*_

LUCY: Hello, would you mind telling us what you saw? You claimed to have been approached by this mysterious man.

EYEWITNESS: Oh yeah Lucy the man came right up to me, like right in my face and he pointed his sword right at me and started yellin’ and hollerin’ at me but I had no idea what he was sayin’. It wasn’t any language I know that’s for sure. But then the police came and grabbed ‘im so everything should be good now. Just hope the mate gets some mental help you know what I’m sayin’?

_*switch feed to FIELDFEED2*_

LUCY: Thank you Tate for your account. Police have not yet released a statement on what they plan to do with this mysterious man, but stay tuned in here to Channel 7 and we will let you know when that information is made public. Reporting for Channel 7, I’m Lucy Williams. Back to you in the studio.

_*switch feed to STUDIO1*_

KEIRA: Thanks Lucy and as she said be sure to stay tuned here for our continuing coverage of this story.

KEIRA: Coming up next, another look at the in-depth weather report with Chip Coleman. Could there finally be some sun in the forecast? We’ll be back with the answer to that question after the break.

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter should be out tomorrow. Thanks for reading! Feel free to let me know what you thought in the comments!
> 
> EDIT: So so sorry about not getting the next chapter out as soon as I had promised. I got sick yesterday and now I've got finals but I promise I will have it out as soon as possible. The chapter is also going longer than I expected. I expected like 1k-2k words but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be more like 4k-5k. Again, I'm sorry but I'll get it out as quick as I can. Thanks!


End file.
